Chapter Text
New jobs were always daunting, at least that’s what his mother said every time he got one, he repeated the mantra in his head as he watched the numbers on the tiny LED screen go up as the lift did. This job had been unexpected but not unwanted, a higher power than him or from what he could gather the FBI had snatched him up from special ops when he was being discharged, it was just incredibly far from home. All the way on the other side of the world type of far. A tall handsome man greeted him as soon as he passed the threshold of the glass doors. SSA Aaron Hotchner was a serious man, an attractive one at that, even Alex found his eyes wandering taking in the dark suit and the man inside it. He could appreciate an attractive person it was similar to window shopping.
“Agent Riley I presume?” He asked with a small smile and Alex could have swooned. The smile as much as it was definitely a rare occurrence on the man suited him. Alex could only nod before his brain caught up with itself.
“Please just call me Alex” he said hoping his voice didn’t squeak as he shook the offered hand. The man was reading him Alex could feel it. Trying to get as much information he could that wouldn’t be in some file with a large chunk redacted.
“Come meet the team” Agent Hotchner said gesturing for him to follow him to the desks holding the group of people who had been trying to look like they weren’t eavesdropping but very clearly were. “Agent Riley. Agents Derek Morgan, Emily Prentiss, Jennifer Jareau and Doctor Spencer Reid. Agent Riley will be joining the team on a permanent basis”
“Thank you Agent Hotchner” Alex finally said after even more brief introductions. The man was smiling at him again and even Alex was beginning to question if his own profile of him being a hardass workaholic was wrong. The questions concerning who he was and his history started as soon as Hotch’s back had turned and if you had looked close enough anyone would have seen the slight shake to the agents shoulders as he laughed as Alex was grilled about his life by people he’d met less than five minutes ago.
“Girlfriend?” JJ asked when they had been asking about his life outwith work and he got his desk sorted into some semblance of usable. The Loch Ness monster pen holder had been a gift from his mother and he wasn’t letting it be thrown out at home.
“Her name is Kelly, we met at high school. Technically we grew up together and sparks were always there we just didn’t really know until after. Going on four years in august” Alex responded. They were getting used to his accent he could see it when they listened to him speaking, he was trying to ensure all words were pronounced clearly to help. The Scottish accent could be tricky even to other Scottish people depending on the area. They asked their questions and Alex answered them as he started looking at paperwork that was already sitting in the box on his desk, as much as he had never worked for the BAU or the FBI before most of their systems and paperwork was the same as previous employers.
“Wheels up in 30!” He heard Hotch call over the bullpen and he looked at Morgan for some form of explanation.
“Means we’ve got a case, it’s the signal to get your stuff together and get in the cars to get to the airstrip” he responded picking up a duffle bag. Alex had been warned to prepare one to keep with him due to and he quoted ‘speedy crime fighting’.
The plane itself was nice. Definitely a lot fancier than he was used to. He settles into one of the seats only to spring right back out of it when it swivelled beneath him. He tried to fight off the heat that was making itself known on his face and sat down once again. Gently this time.
“What have we got?” He asked trying to distract them from the seat situation.
“Two boys from a small town have disappeared” Hotch started and Alex’s heart sank “We’ve seen serial kidnappers before. We know that number will rise. Carter wright, 14 and Samual Drey, 9 taken three days apart straight from their homes with no witnesses.”
“From their homes and no one noticed?” Alex asked. If his niece disappeared he was certain that someone would notice within seconds. Hotch raised an eyebrow at him. “It’s just surely if you’re home with your kids and suddenly they were gone a parent or guardian would never be to far away”
“Unless the parents weren’t paying attention” JJ supplied “Not that they would admit it”
“The 14 year old I can understand being left home alone but 9 is too young. Anything could happen” Morgan supplied
“I was left home alone at 9” Spencer said quietly and Alex saw all sets of eyes look at the doctor with the same underlying expression. Pity. There was a story there and Alex wasn’t sure he was ready to know it.
Soon enough a profile was building around the very limited facts they had. A man, most likely in his late 40s, with history of child neglect or abuse and a saviour complex. Hotch took charge at the small station as soon as he walked in, small town cops moving out the way to let them work. For a second all Alex could do was watch, Morgan was on the phone to someone, Spencer and Emily were looking at maps, JJ was talking to the sheriff writing something on a small notepad and Hotch was looking at him. He quickly snapped out of his stupor and started looking at the board that was slowly being put together. The first boy was left home alone a lot while his mother worked a second job to keep them afloat. The second boy, his mother had went to answer a call from her lawyers about divorce proceedings, his father had been caught having an affair with the mailman of all people. Neither had noticed their children being taken. Alex’s eyes kept drifting to the woman sat next to a desk hunched over with her head in her hands shoulders shaking. He tried to focus on the board but he couldn’t just leave her there clearly upset while people busied themselves around her.
“Ma’am are you okay?” He asked kneeling down in front of her with his hand on her knee. She jerked away from his touch her head shooting up, her eyes were red and she looked like her life was crashing down around her so he decided to try again “Ma’am my name is agent Alexander Riley, I’m one of the agents looking for your son”
“I only stepped out for a minute” she started between sobs “I had to take the lawyers call my husband he’s trying to get sole custody but I didn’t want Sam to know, he’s just a baby. He shouldn’t be involved in such adult things”
“What was he doing when you last saw him?” He asked holding her hand.
“He was playing a game in the den, his father got his that new came boy thing and I thought it would occupy him long enough that he wouldn’t overhear the call” she said. She was calming down slowly and Alex was sure he could feel eyes on him.
“Is there anyone that you think would have done this? Anyone at all?” He asked. She shook her head.
“Not even his father would do something like this” she said letting go of his hands to put her head back into them. He stood up slowly still looking at her, he opened his mouth to speak but one of the cops was jumping up from his desk phone still against his ear.
“He’s been spotted!” He shouted still holding the phone “on East street heading into the woods. Witness says he had a young boy over his shoulder. Kid was screaming”
Everyone was moving. Alex wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, his gun was on his hip much like Emily’s so he chose her to be the one he followed. Looking back following her lead because they kept their guns in the same place was a weird choice to make but it worked.
The woods were vast and thick. Alex felt like the world was spinning around him, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes before breathing out and looking at the dirt at his feet. The footprints were deeper than others, from the extra weight of the boy.
“Hotch!” He called “footprints leading that way” he pointed.
“Good find” Hotch said leaning over the back of him “we’ve got to follow them”
They were running, feet kicking dirt up, Spencer slipped slightly but was righted by Morgan. Alex tripped over a log that seemed to snag his foot but used it to change his course towards the screams coming from their left. Hotch was on his elbow but they were running as fast as they could hoping they reached them in time. Skidding to a stop was the only option they had when their unsung was dangling the boy over the edge of a ravine or maybe it was a cliff either way it was a long was down. Alex was holding both his hands up in front of him in surrender but he was still creeping forward watching the boy and the hands dangling him. There was shouting all around him, none of it was reaching his ears properly, he could hear snippets of demands and threats but he was focused. Their unsubs arms flexed slightly then the boy was falling and Alex was right behind diving forward catching the boys hand as they dropped but he’d misjudged and instead of stopping at the edge they went straight over. For a moment he was falling but his brain kicked back in and he used his free hand, the one that wasn’t gripping the boys hand to grab a ledge on the wall stopping their decent suddenly jerking his shoulder and back so hard he hissed. He braced himself and started pulling the boy up by his hand.
“Kid, I’m gonna need you to wrap your arms round my neck” he panted pulling up higher.
“What?” Sam asked in a small voice.
“Arms. Round. Neck” he managed to get out. The kids arms squeezed around his neck as he managed to get his other hand up on the ledge for a better grip. He wasn’t sure what had been happening above him in the minute of so they had been dangling but when he looked up Morgan and Hotch were looking down at them.
“A lil help please” he asked pressing his head against the wall. Two sets of hands reached down and hauled the young boy back up over the edge and onto solid ground.
“Right, your turn pretty boy” Morgan said holding out his hand. Alex’s arms were screaming at him he tried to reach up but his body wouldn’t let him.
“I’m gonna be honest here. I don’t think this is gonna go well” he groaned but managed to grasp Morgan’s hand as he was being pulled back up another his other hand was grabbed and he was going back to solid ground even faster. Once he was safely over he sprawled on his back and took a deep breath, moving his arms slightly to try and ease the pain in his shoulders. He closed his eyes and was glad that the team were giving him time to breathe and stretch the pain out of his bones.
Standing against a desk he watched as Sam was reunited with his mother, she mouthed ‘thank you’ and he just nodded towards her with a small smile.
“Never throw yourself off a cliff again” Hotch said sternly from beside him.
“Technically” Alex responded “My aim was not off the cliff it was to catch the kid before he fell to his death”
Hotch raised an eyebrow and his small smile faded away and he broke eye contact looking away.
“Yeah. I won’t do it again. Sorry” he said. Everyone was cleaning out, packing cars back up with go bags and paperwork, he was sat on a desk chair watching them. Watching the ease the felt with one another how easily they worked together. He found himself trying to profile relationships between each member until he got to Hotch, that man was the hardest to put a read on. He was stuck in his own head when Emily coughed in front of him grabbing his attention.
“You ready to go? Plane leaves soon” she said and he nodded scooping up his bag to throw in the trunk. He had chosen the middle seat in hopes that having a person on each side would ease the pain shooting down his spine. His hopes were dashed after a particularly nasty pothole which shook the car and his bones. He groaned quietly dropping his head backwards against the headrest. Morgan’s hand was on his back helping him up the steps to the plane cabin, Alex was thankful but he could feel it in his legs the pain was spreading and he just wanted to sleep. Instead of taking one of the swivel seats he sat on the soda with his phone in his lap, he had three texts from Kelly. He responded to them and let her know that he would be home as soon as he could. The sofa dipped next to him and he turned to see Hotch sitting there with a file in his hands.
“I appreciate that your not used to communicating what you are doing before you do it but for this team to work as it does you have to start doing so” Hotch said “I also appreciate that in the situation we were in there wasn’t a lot of time to communicate”
“I’m sorry Hotch, I’ll try to be better” he responded “special ops we just did there wasn’t a lot of room to talk while we were in a battle zone” Hotch nodded and Alex was pulled into a heated debate about whether or not sunken boats could theoretically house a survivor of a sinking until rescue.